INTRODUCTION 



I suppose, if we take the whole of the Animal King- 

 dom, in any way associated with man, either as com- 

 panion, or helper, there is none to compare, in popu- 

 larity, with the subject of these notes; but yet I have 

 often found in conversation, even with lovers of ani- 

 mals, very mistaken notions about dogs, their varieties, 

 characteristics and peculiarities. I think there are 

 more known and acknowledged varieties of dog, than 

 of any other of the animals, we are at all familiar with, 

 and the ways, sizes, appearance and characteristics 

 differ so greatly that it is hardly possible, one would 

 imagine, to find any person to whom some kind of a 

 dog would not appeal. I wish, if possible, to say some- 

 thing to stir up in the minds of some not hitherto keep- 

 ing a dog, the desire to do so, and whether merely as a 

 guard or companion or with a view to trying to breed 

 some good specimens, and, occasionally, to send to 

 some of the Exhibitions of Dogs, which have so in- 

 creased in number and quality during the last twenty 

 years, that I have frequently heard it stated, that tak- 

 ing out Saturdays and Sundays, there is a Dog Show 

 being held somewhere or other on every ordinary day 

 in the year ! 



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